4 ms·

But C didn't have competitors with large standard libraries, so it didn't suffer as much for it.

by tibbe 10y ago

pjmlp 10y ago
It had, Modula-2 and Pascal dialects usually had richer libraries. For example check Turbo Pascal libraries, including Turbo Vision, already on MS-DOS. C took off thanks to UNIX's adoption, like JavaScript on browsers nowadays, it became the language to use for anyone working on the enterprise on those new shiny UNIX boxes. In Europe it was just another systems language to choose from, back when CP/M and other 8 / 16 bit systems were common.
- rjsw 10y ago
  C was usable on MS-DOS before Modula-2 or Turbo Pascal were available.
  - pjmlp 10y ago
    Both C compilers and Turbo Pascal already existed in CP/M, which preceded MS-DOS. Also there were C, Pascal and Modula-2 compilers available for ZX Spectrum. And on my part tiny of the globe I can guarantee that everyone only cared about x86 Assembly, Turbo Basic and Turbo Pascal, with Clipper for business stuff. I only got to learn C in 1993, after having been a Turbo Pascal 3, 5.5 and 6.0 user.
    - rjsw 10y ago
      Being able to compile stuff on CP/M wasn't much help if you wanted to develop MS-DOS applications. I first used C in 1983 on MS-DOS, I didn't use UNIX until a couple of years later. I bought Turbo Pascal 1.0 when it was released but already had a C compiler at that point.
      - pjmlp 10y ago
        My first contact with MS-DOS was with version 3.x on a PC 1512, until then I was on Z80 systems. So I got to see the language world in a different way, given the local choice of languages as I mentioned. EDIT: Reformulated the answer
        rjsw 10y ago
        You seem to be suggesting that geography made a difference to which languages were available.
        pjmlp 10y ago
        Of course it made a difference. We only got to buy the compilers that were available on the computer local store, not always 100% original or find some magazine and order international via post. BBS access was only available to a few fortunate capable of paying the high connection rates and the modem in first place. We got to do with what was available to us and could afford to pay. Some of my first Assemblers were taken from the Input magazines and typed in, because there was nothing else.
        rjsw 10y ago
        It would help if you gave a hint on which technological backwater you are describing. It wasn't any harder to buy stuff in Western Europe in the early 80s than it was in the US.
        pjmlp 10y ago
        Portugal late 70's, early 80's in a small town village. Average salary would be around 300 euros when converted for today's currency We had just gotten out of a dictatorship.

But C didn't have competitors with large standard libraries, so it didn't suffer as much for it.

by tibbe 10y ago

But C didn't have competitors with large standard libraries, so it didn't suffer as much for it.

pjmlp 10y ago

It had, Modula-2 and Pascal dialects usually had richer libraries. For example check Turbo Pascal libraries, including Turbo Vision, already on MS-DOS. C took off thanks to UNIX's adoption, like JavaScript on browsers nowadays, it became the language to use for anyone working on the enterprise on those new shiny UNIX boxes. In Europe it was just another systems language to choose from, back when CP/M and other 8 / 16 bit systems were common.

rjsw 10y ago
C was usable on MS-DOS before Modula-2 or Turbo Pascal were available.
- pjmlp 10y ago
  Both C compilers and Turbo Pascal already existed in CP/M, which preceded MS-DOS. Also there were C, Pascal and Modula-2 compilers available for ZX Spectrum. And on my part tiny of the globe I can guarantee that everyone only cared about x86 Assembly, Turbo Basic and Turbo Pascal, with Clipper for business stuff. I only got to learn C in 1993, after having been a Turbo Pascal 3, 5.5 and 6.0 user.
  - rjsw 10y ago
    Being able to compile stuff on CP/M wasn't much help if you wanted to develop MS-DOS applications. I first used C in 1983 on MS-DOS, I didn't use UNIX until a couple of years later. I bought Turbo Pascal 1.0 when it was released but already had a C compiler at that point.
    - pjmlp 10y ago
      My first contact with MS-DOS was with version 3.x on a PC 1512, until then I was on Z80 systems. So I got to see the language world in a different way, given the local choice of languages as I mentioned. EDIT: Reformulated the answer
      - rjsw 10y ago
        You seem to be suggesting that geography made a difference to which languages were available.
        pjmlp 10y ago
        Of course it made a difference. We only got to buy the compilers that were available on the computer local store, not always 100% original or find some magazine and order international via post. BBS access was only available to a few fortunate capable of paying the high connection rates and the modem in first place. We got to do with what was available to us and could afford to pay. Some of my first Assemblers were taken from the Input magazines and typed in, because there was nothing else.
        rjsw 10y ago
        It would help if you gave a hint on which technological backwater you are describing. It wasn't any harder to buy stuff in Western Europe in the early 80s than it was in the US.
        pjmlp 10y ago
        Portugal late 70's, early 80's in a small town village. Average salary would be around 300 euros when converted for today's currency We had just gotten out of a dictatorship.